345: How to Effectively Set and Achieve Your Goals with Geoff Woods

 

[INTERVIEW]

 

Hal Elrod: Hey, welcome Geoff Woods.

 

Geoff Woods: Thank you, Hal Elrod.

 

Hal Elrod: So, I just asked you if you were ready to talk about goals, and I don't know what.. you'd made some smartass comment. And then, I made a smartass comment saying it's the only thing that I think you're good at talking about. And then, you made a really on-brand comment showing the one thing and saying, “Yeah, you focus on one thing. There you go.”

 

Geoff Woods: There you go.

 

Hal Elrod: So, let's do this man. So, here's what initiated this. I'm signed up. My wife and I signed us up to do The ONE Thing Couples Goal-Setting Retreat in October. What are the dates of them anyway?

 

Geoff Woods: November, so November 14 and 15.

 

Hal Elrod: That's why I couldn't find them in October.

 

Geoff Woods: Yeah. Next, next episode, we're going to help you with time blocking. November 14th and 15th is the couple's retreat. And then, the following weekend, November 21st and 22nd, we're facilitating The ONE Thing Goal-Setting Retreat for individuals and teams.

 

Hal Elrod: Beautiful, beautiful. I was looking through all my October, I'm like, “Where is…” Okay, that makes sense. It's in November. There's also a search feature, I realized on my calendar that I could have used, but I like the manual.

 

And so, I signed up for that. I wanted to do that last time with my wife and our dates conflicted. And then this time, they didn't, so I was pumped up just to do that and then I just… literally, all jokes aside, you're one of the best, one of the most effective human beings that I've ever heard talk about goals and got you on the podcast before. We've got you at our event. You talked about goals at our event. It was one of the most popular sessions. My wife was in the back room. She's like, “Geoff is good.” Like, I didn't know. I mean, she was almost so impressed. I got a little bit. I'm like, “Sweetie,” like, “Why are you looking at him like that and what's the tone in your voice?” It was kind of uncomfortable for me. But, yeah, you're that good at goal-setting speak.

 

So, anyway, that's what not I'm talking about today. So, share this with you. My listeners, longtime listeners may be aware of this. But I have been leaning toward changing the name of the podcast for a long time. I named it in 2012, Achieve Your Goals because I wanted to talk about any topic related to helping people achieve their goals.

 

Well, in the last year or so, maybe less than a year, but the focus, my focus has kind of shifted where it's kind of like I'm interested in so many different topics that are often not at all related to achieving your goals. And so, I'm leaning towards calling it Wake Up with Hal Elrod, something like that. But being that it is the Achieve Your Goals podcast, I'm excited to bring you on and actually dive into this and it's a topic that I realized almost to my detriment, I've gotten away from.

 

Like, in my own life, I feel like I'm not quite as on point. I have goals I'm working towards. We got the Miracle Morning movie coming out. But I'm not quite as on point, focused, strategic, disciplined, consistent with my goal setting, goal tracking, goal achieving as I haven't in a while. So, I'm actually excited selfishly to get myself back on track with your help today. Geoff, can you help me?

 

Geoff Woods: I believe we can.

 

Hal Elrod: If you can help me, you can help anybody. Where should we start, man? Let's talk about, how did you get into this? How did you get into talking about goal setting? I don't have ever asked you.

 

Geoff Woods: Yeah, sure. So, when I moved, for people that haven't heard the past episodes, prior to co-founding this company behind the book, The One Thing with co-authors, Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, I was in medical device sales. I've always been a goal setter.

 

When I moved my family from Southern California to Austin to start this company with Gary and Jay, one of the first things Jay said to me is the fastest way you can get out of business with us, is to not live the book, The One Thing. You don't have to be perfect, but you've got to be on your path of mastery.

 

The ONE Thing is all about, how do you set goals for your life? How do you cast that vision? And how do you work it back, so that you are extremely focused on what's the one thing I can do? Such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary. So, Hal, the point is I showed up first as a student of the principles. And as a student, I built some authority and started to get results.

 

And then, that lead to something Jay and Wendy, so Jay is the co-author of the book with Gary Keller, he and his wife, this is their 14th year. This past weekend, they did their 14th goal-setting retreat where they hired a babysitter, they got away from the kids and just sat down and actually envisioned a life together. Because a lot of couples set goals individually, but they don't set them together and they wonder why they're not on the same page.

 

And for over a decade, Jay has been doing this with Wendy and they started just to share it with their network and it exploded in popularity and finally, we looked up and said, “Look, we teach individuals, teams, and organizations how to set and achieve goals. Why don't we start hosting a couple's goal setting retreat?” Because we saw a massive void in the market. Nobody was doing this.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah.

 

Geoff Woods: And so, this is, I believe, our fourth year doing this where it's hands down one of the best things we do.

 

Hal Elrod: Very cool. And I agree. My wife and I, I don't know that we've ever set goals together, which is why last year, I was so bummed that we weren’t…

 

Geoff Woods: And that’s interesting, like, you're an extremely high achiever and knowing what I know about Ursula, she's not passive. She's very driven. And when you have two people like that, what becomes possible if you were really aligned? And for, you’re by the way the minority, the majority of people who have a significant other, one person's a goal setter and one person wants nothing to do with it. And they don't know how to even get them interested.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. So, there's a question, how do you get them interested?

 

Geoff Woods: I think the first is you have to speak their language. If you say, “Honey, let's do a couple's goal-setting retreat.” Like, the alarms are going to go off like foreign object. “No, thank you.” I think it's all in the approach, which is, “You matter to me. And I've realized that I want to make sure that I'm clear on what matters for you out of life, and that I can be the best partner for you and supporting you where it matters. And I want you to be clear with the things that matter to me. I want us to be more aligned than ever before this next year. And I'd love us to go through an awesome experience where we can do that,” and at the end of the day…

 

Hal Elrod: If I wasn't already said like that… guys, rewind that. Write that down. There is your word-for-word script. That's amazing, Geoff.

 

Geoff Woods: You matter to me. I want to be able to support you, and what matters to you. And I realized, I haven't always done a great job of communicating the things that I want in life, and I want you to be able to support me. So, let's go through a process where we can actually figure out how we'd be the best partners for each other. That’s the script.

 

Hal Elrod: I'm going to add one. You said something in there and I thought you were going one direction and then, you switched. You said I haven't always been good at telling you what matters to me. I think the one line that I would add into there is, “I want to support you and I realized I haven't always been good at that.” I think that might be the most important line because they're like, “Yes, I agree 100% with you,” right?

 

Geoff Woods: It’s right. You finally acknowledge you do not do the dishes as best as you thought you could. Yes, that's right.

 

Hal Elrod: That's right. Yeah. The more you can say, “Yeah, I've screwed up a lot. Yep, yep. All right. Whatever you're saying after this, I'm listening to, sweetheart. This is good, you got me.”

 

Geoff Woods: And the other thing I've learned, Hal, like I said, this is our fourth year going into this, when push comes to shove, if you say, this really matters to me. And I'd love for you just to come along the journey. Even if they think that they're a spectator, we handle the facilitation where they start asking themselves the questions, and it unlocks everything.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah, beautiful. When it comes to, let's… Today, I want to talk about goal setting. I want to talk about it for individuals and then sprinkling in couple stuff as it fits. But what do you think what are the biggest mistakes that people make when setting goals?

 

Geoff Woods: Too high-level things come to mind. One is how you set the goal. And one is how you have a relationship with the goals you set. Jay and I were talking about this. The world doesn't really need a new way to set goals. They need a way to have a relationship with them. A lot of us have set goals before where we put it on the pretty PowerPoint, and maybe you're like me and you thought, “I'm going to be a high achiever. I'm going to frame my goals. Whoo, I'm going to put them by my sink and I'm going to look at them while I brush my teeth. I'm going to visualize them when I do my Miracle Morning.” That's awesome. And there's nothing wrong with that. But the challenge is if you don't date your goals, you don't have a relationship. It's like how when you met Ursula. Where do you guys meet?

 

Hal Elrod: Online, Yahoo! Personals, which was bought by match.com.

 

Geoff Woods: There you go. I am guessing, you didn't have your first conversation or your first date and say, “You know what, I really like you. I could see potential here. I'll see in a year and let's see how it goes.”

 

Hal Elrod: No.

 

Geoff Woods: That'd be frickin’ ridiculous. Like, we understand if you want to get into a relationship with a person, you go on dates, you communicate in between dates. You think about them when you're not communicating. And when things are going well, you envision an even bigger life. You might move in together. You might get married. You might have kids. And when there's tension in the relationship, when you're not on track, you know you got to change your activities because you got to get back on track.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah.

 

Geoff Woods: I share this with you, Hal, because we fundamentally understand how to have a relationship with another person, but we don't apply those proven principles to having a relationship with our goals. Setting it is step one, and we can talk about that, but the real value is in having the relationship with them.

 

What's your process look like to sit down with your goals and date them? And to truly analyze, am I on track? Am I where I should be? And if so, if I'm ahead, great. Let me raise the bar, let me think even bigger. And if I'm off track, what do I have to change this week in terms of my activities? What specifically belongs on my calendar, so that I say yes to what really matters most?

 

Hal Elrod: I can relate to the example you just give of, when I met Ursula, right, you didn't just say, “Hey, I see an amazing relationship, I'll see you in a year.” I can relate to doing that with goals. I think a lot will do that, where they set their goals with their best intentions. And then, I remember one year in particular, and this was probably a decade or more ago, but I remember I set my goals, and the first time I looked at them a year later was when I opened up my computer to set my goals for the year. And I typed in goals in the search. And I'm like, “Oh, my goals from last year, I haven't looked at this document.” And then I opened it, I'm like, luckily, some of them I kind of hit by default because they were worth goals, but most of them, I'm like, “Oh, I totally forgot I wanted to start rock climbing. I totally forgot that I want like...” So, let's talk about that and how do you develop a healthy relationship with your goals? How do you date them?

 

Geoff Woods: It's all about the rhythm. And these are where the tools of The ONE Thing really come into play. Setting the goals is awesome, getting that clarity, getting that alignment massively important. And then, you've got to break it down even further, when I'm clear that personally and professionally, these are the handful of things that really matter to me this this year.

 

I then need to understand, okay, if that's the case, what specifically do I have to accomplish by the end of this month to feel like I'm on track for my annual goals? And that takes some time to think it through. But once you know that, then you can reverse engineer it even closer. Okay, well, what specifically do I have to accomplish this week to know that I'm on track for my month, to the point that how I would be able to open up my calendar and schedule time to do those activities. Now, I'm going to underline something there, I said activities, I did not say results.

 

A lot of people are good at identifying the results they want to achieve. They're not great at identifying the activities they have to take to achieve the results. We help people get out of results land and identify the actions they've got to take this week to know, boom. If I just do that, that small, tiny thing this week, I know I'm on track for my month, which puts me on track for my year, which puts me on track for my five-year goals and my someday goals, which we help people set as well. So, it's all about what we call goal setting to the now, breaking it down so small to the point that I know if I do not honor this 30-minute time block to have this one conversation, I am not on track for this very specific goal I've set for the year.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah, I love that. I want to back up to setting the goal. How do you recommend people set goals? Or how do you set goals in terms of, is it, you say what are the three most important results I want in my life. Do you say, “Okay, I'm going to set a goal for like the eight areas of the wheel of life, health, relationships, financial, career, contribution”... How do you recommend set goals? How many goals, breaking them down, categories, all that?

 

Geoff Woods: So, here's what you and Ursula are going to go through.

 

Hal Elrod: Yes, preview.

 

Geoff Woods: First, we are going to look at what are your core values.

 

Hal Elrod: I love that, I just, yeah.

 

Geoff Woods: Before we can even get into what your goals are, we have to ask the question, what are your values? Here, let me reach out to my desk and grab something. So, this is a prototype, but this is our value deck. So, we've got this deck that will be out by the end of the year where it looks like a domino on one side and on the other end, it says a value.

 

There's 140 different core values that could be yours. And what you're going to do is you're actually going to start to figure out, is accountability one of mine? Yes or no. And you're just going to start discarding it. It feels like it's me or it's not. And you're going to go through this process, where by the end, you will know exactly what your top three core values are. Like, I can tell you mine are growth, recognition, and impact. I can tell you Jay’s are family, impact, and abundance in that order.

 

And all of a sudden when you're clear on what your core values are, Hal, and when you can see what Ursula's core values are, you're suddenly going to understand why you behave the way you behave, and you're going to know exactly how to support the other person.

 

Hal Elrod: I don't like the tone you use when you said how I behave the way I behave. I felt like you were judging me. I'm just kidding.

 

Geoff Woods: Just hanging around Gary, he always says behave. I don't know.

 

Hal Elrod: Oh, that's why. No, I love that. A few weeks ago, I did an episode on core values. It's the most shared episode possibly I have ever had. So, I'm totally in alignment with you. My wife would probably never listen to that episode of mine, so I can't wait to hear this from you because that's going to be effective.

 

Geoff Woods: That's right. Well, I interviewed a couple earlier who went through this last year, and their marriage was really on the rocks. And when I asked him, “What were you hoping to get out of the retreat?” The wife said, “I legitimately, my goal was if I could stand being in the room with him.” She says, “Geoff, I was at that place in my life where I had two young kids and I was genuinely thinking that life might be easier if I did this on my own without him.”

 

Hal Elrod: Wow.

 

Geoff Woods: That's the place their marriage was when they showed up. And when they did the core values thing, she realized her number one value was efficiency. His number one value was fun. And the moment they realized that the thing that created all this tension was she just wanted to drive efficiency in the home, and he's always being Mr. Fun Guy. And she's like, “That's so inefficient. I just want to get this done.” And she's like, she's always trying to press for efficiency. She's never having any fun. So, it was like oil and water.

 

But the moment they understood, this is how I'm wired. This is the thing I value most, she realized, “Oh, my gosh, my efficiency is how I show love for the family. And him showing fun, is the way he brings value to the family.” And the thing that used to create distance now actually brought them together. You just needed a different way of looking at it.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah, I love that. And I relate to her. I'm like Mr. Efficiency. It's like just frickin’ relax. We don't have to do everything so on point. And so, you don’t. Yeah, so that's good. I'm looking forward to that result.

 

Geoff Woods: This just brings purpose to why you do what you do. So, we start with your values. We're going to take a look at the roles you play, husband, father, podcast host, business owner. Like, if you really look at all the roles that you play in your life and if you actually have to stack rank them in order of priority, that is eye opening. Because people will look and say, I actually say that I'm a husband and a father first and second and a businessman second, but do I actually act that way? That's massively eye opening.

 

Then, we talk, we go through, now let's cast a vision for your life. So, when you talk about those areas of your life, you and Ursula will have the chance to actually imagine what does an extraordinary look like, health wise for us some day from now? What does extraordinary finances look like some day from now? And you go do your work independently and you'll share your thoughts with each other, not so that you have the same answers, but that you have insight into what each other is thinking. So, you can support one another. Then, we reverse engineer it to five-year goals, one-year goals, and then you put a plan in place to support each other.

 

Hal Elrod: The thing that's amazing about goal setting, and I think it depends on the person’s kind of mind in some ways, but it is not rocket science but it is a really disciplined process, right? And there's a method to the madness, if you will. And so, like the way that you're explaining it, it's like, “Yeah, that makes sense. But when was the last time I did that?” Nothing you said, I'm like, “Wow, I've never heard core values roll...” Like, “when was the last time I actually did that?” And especially, there's such a value thing being led by someone, so that you have not only the accountability, but just the guidance, and hey, let's do this first, and then you're like, “Okay,” now do this, “okay,” now, you fall... It's kind of like making a beautiful dinner. And then, if you follow the recipe step by step, at the end, you're like, “Whoa, this is amazing,” and so that's what I see here.

 

Geoff Woods: Well, you and I both are good friends with Mr. Jon Berghoff, arguably one of the best facilitators I've ever seen. And there's real value in having somebody that can just shepherd you through a process because then you can actually be present in doing the work.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah, absolutely. All right, so let's get back to… I back this up to kind of, how do you set the goals right? And for you, it's getting clear on your core values, getting clear on your roles, clarifying your vision in the areas of your life that matter, then setting your five-year goals, three-year goals, one-year goals and then you go from there to breaking it down to your monthly activities, your weekly activities, your daily activities down to the minute. Let's pick it up there.

 

Geoff Woods: So, if I had to summarize someday goals, five-year goals, one-year goals, once you have a sense of what your one-year goals are, this is where we need to ask the question, how do we have a relationship with them? When we have goals around our business, you're probably going to need a business plan. So, how do you create a simple business plan that gets everybody on the same page? We have a framework for that called a GPS. Literally, it's a one-page business plan. Then, we talk about how do you create a rhythm for having the relationship with your goals. And we walk you through another framework for that.

 

And the mark of success, Hal, is not if you and Ursula walk out and do all of this, it’s if you walk out and do some of it. This is an annual ritual. Year one is all about laying the foundation. Year two, you build a little bit more. Year three, you build a little bit more.

 

I mean, I think back to Amy's and my first goal-setting retreat, we just went through it. It wasn't life changing for our marriage the first year. But what it did do is it laid the foundation, so that in year two, my wife who was not a goal setter was open to having the weekly meeting, where we sat down and reviewed our goals and said, “Hey, these are the things that we said mattered this year.” And if that's the case, this is what we said mattered this month. So, what do you need me? I do to support you this week to make sure I help you there. And what do you need to do and vice versa to the point that we were clear, regardless of what state the dishes or the laundry or if our kids were screaming we're in, we were hyper clear that, hey, this week, we set our number one priority personally was to find a new school for our son Dean. How are you doing? Do you need me to help you? Do you need me to put that on my 411, so that I can make sure that that gets done? What does that need to look like?

 

Hal Elrod: You mentioned the 411. Well, first, I want to say this, I want to get to the 411. But what you're talking about it, the weekly meeting, it's so interesting because I can think in the last six months, since COVID hit really, right? When COVID hit and all these things, it was kind of a wake-up call that my wife and I were like, man, we really need to do these things. Like, we want to find a property that's kind of like a weekend place we can get to, but there hasn't been the weekly meeting.

 

It's the “Oh, I found this on Zillow.” And I'm like, “Oh, cool.” And then I'm like, “Look,” and then we forget. And then, there's all these things that we've wanted to do for six months, but they've all fallen by the wayside. So, what you're talking about is so important. The 411, you mentioned that, and I'm drawing a blank. I know we talked about that, I think either at my event or on the last podcast. Remind what that is.

 

Geoff Woods: A 411 is a tool that helps you have a relationship with your goals. It is a simple framework where you can say these are my top annual goals for the year personally and professionally. And it helps you break it down to, “This is what I got to do this month,” breaks it down to, “This is what I got to do this week.” And for people who actually commit to using a 411, you update it every week.

 

So, I update mine Friday mornings, where I'm reflecting back on what I said, my priorities were for the last week, I'm asking how did I do? I mean, acknowledging that I may have certain feelings about that and I'm identifying, “Okay, what can I actually do to improve this coming week?” That's where the growth is. That's also the accountability. And then, I set my priorities for the upcoming week, which naturally prompts me to open up my calendar and make sure that I have time blocked for those things. That way, it's not just hope, I actually have a plan.

 

Hal Elrod: Beautiful. The last thing I want to ask about is you just mentioned accountability. I'm big on accountability. I always say that it's arguably the linchpin in achievement and if you look at the highest performing individuals in the world, they have a high degree of accountability, whether it's an athlete who has to show up to the coach, right, just like, the Michael Jordan's of the world and the best in the world, they always give it, “Hey, it's my coach,” like, I wouldn't have practiced this diligently without having to show up to practice, right? CEOs and executive board and shareholders and they've got all these layers of accountability.

 

So, for an individual or a couple, what's your view on accountability, the role it plays, and some tip you can give on how someone listening can start integrating some form of accountability to help them achieve goals?

 

Geoff Woods: Not only do we believe it's important, we would suggest that it is one of the three commitments you must make if you want to live an extraordinary life. First, you got to be willing to follow the path of mastery, which means be humble, be a student, always get better.

 

Second, we call it moving from E to P, moving from being entrepreneurial to purposeful. It means quit relying on your natural ability and reinventing the wheel, recognize that others have gone before you and have achieved more than you. So why not study them, so you can start where they finished?

 

And third is live the accountability cycle. When things do not go your way, quit pointing the finger, quit going to blame, shame, justification, look in the mirror, and ask the question, What can I do differently? Be accountable. So, I think it's absolutely vital. I think the thing that people acknowledge, you have to understand there's different levels of accountability. At the most basic level, you can say I'm going to hold myself accountable. I'm just going to do it myself. You want to ratchet it up a level, I'm going to leverage a model or a system, like that 411 that I talked about. That is an accountability system.

 

You want to leverage it up a level, you need a peer or a friend or your significant other who's going to hold you accountable. And you can go, go all the way up to the highest level of accountability is to hire a coach. Because you're paying them money, it’s their job to go where you want to hide. It's their job to take a stand for your possibilities when you're fighting for your limitations. The question is, what's the right fit for you with no judgment?

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah. I love some of the things that you say, like the coach's job is to go where you want to hide. That's beautiful.

 

Geoff Woods: Oh, dude, we could go into some stories about that, and yes.

 

Hal Elrod: Yeah, I love this. All right. So, I know we're at the end of our time here. If anybody wants to join Ursula and I at the couple's goal-setting retreat, and I know you said the following weekend isn’t a retreat for individuals and teams, what's the place to get info on that and sign up?

 

Geoff Woods: So, we've created a specific signup page for Hal, for you, and the people in your audience. So, if you guys go to the1thing.com, that's with the number 1, so the, then number 1 thing.com slash Hal, so the1thing.com/hal.

 

Hal Elrod: I’m glad my name is so short, that keeps it super simple.

 

Geoff Woods: I know. I know. Simple.

 

Hal Elrod: And by the way, this is a virtual retreat to be clear, right? Normally they’re in person.

 

Geoff Woods: Yeah, 100% virtual, so I mean, Hal, knowing you, you're going to grab your Snuggie and your slippers, and you do you, man.

 

Hal Elrod: That's right. No, I'll just be dressed from the waist up. That's all you get on virtual stuff for me. That's all I can promise.

 

Geoff Woods: You know what? That, I can't wait.

 

Hal Elrod: Awesome. All right, Geoff woods, man, I love you. I always love talking to you. Love, yeah. We need to get together, we need to see each other, we need to do a virtual something. I guess, we just did it. I just saw you. I could actually probably go a few months until I see you again.

 

Geoff Woods: Well, if you wanted to see me, see me. We're going to have to do it in the next few weeks because, true story, last year when Amy and I did our couples retreat, one of our someday goals was that we would live closer to mountains.

 

Hal Elrod: Getting out of here.

 

Geoff Woods: So, it’s been really important to us. And as long as I've been running this company, I was of the mindset that I had to be here in Austin because that's where Gary and Jay are. And with COVID, the world has changed. And I believe the future of work is virtually based, physically enhanced. And as a company that teaches companies to be productive, we need to be that company. So, we have authority. I made that pitch to my partners and they said yes. And then, I asked, “Do I need to be in Austin?” They said no. So, we're moving to Denver.

 

Hal Elrod: Get out of here.

 

Geoff Woods: So, if you need a place to go on the weekends, we have a basement.

 

Hal Elrod: Awesome. Awesome. Dude, you don't know, we'll come to that. How about if I need a place to go from July to September to get out of Austin, Texas when it's the heatwave here. Yeah, we'll come to Denver to visit you, man.

 

Geoff Woods: You got my number.

 

Hal Elrod: Cool, my brother. Well, Geoff, I appreciate you again. Everybody listening, if you are interested in checking out the couple's goal-setting retreat, which my wife and I will be at virtual retreat or the one for individuals and teams, go to the, the number 1, the1thing, using the number one, the1thing.com/hal and check it out. I'll be there. Hopefully, you will join me. And Geoff, much love brother. I look forward to the next time we connect.

 

Geoff Woods: Awesome, Hal. Thanks, man.

 

Hal Elrod: All right. Take care.

[END]